Newt Gingrich on Families & Children

Former Republican Representative (GA-6) and Speaker of the House

Let poor kids work so they learn like middle class

ROMNEY: Speaker Gingrich said that he would like to eliminate in some cases the child labor laws so that kids could clean schools. I don't agree with that idea.

GINGRICH: I think virtually every person up here worked at a young age. What
I suggested was, kids ought to be allowed to work part-time in school, particularly in the poorest neighborhoods, both because they could use the money. If you take 1/2 of the New York janitors who are unionized and paid more than the teachers, an
entry-level janitor gets paid twice as much as an entry-level teacher. You take half of those janitors, you could give lots of poor kids a work experience in the cafeteria and the school library and front office. I'll stand by the idea, young people
ought to learn how to work. Middle class kids do it routinely. We should give poor kids the same chance to pursue happiness.

ROMNEY: To have kids work in the library does not require changing our child labor laws in this country.

Reward high-school girls who graduate as virgins

As part of his conservative stance, Newt Gingrich aims to impose order with a vision like a surreal projection of his own past; a family structure as strict as [his father]
Bob Gingrich's military hierarchy and an educational system that, as he outlines for me, rewards high-school girls who graduate as virgins.
In his book To Renew America, he suggests that one could communicate values to children by simply getting out "the Boy Scout or Girl Scout handbook, or go look at Reader's Digest and The Saturday Evening Post from around
1955." In his dream of perfection, as marketable and soothing as Father of the Bride, there are none of the ordinary dramas of family life.

Responsibility for child's education resides with parents

Our public school system is increasingly geared toward serving the needs of government employee unions and other special interest groups instead of the educational, moral, and emotional needs of our children. With public schools becoming increasingly
bureaucratic, hostile to religious expression, and unresponsive to parental input, American families are increasingly choosing alternative education methods for their children such as private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling.
Such options allow parents to customize their child's curriculum and learning environment, provide a safe environment free of drugs and violence, and impart strong religious values.

The point is not to demonize the public school system. Rather, the
point is to reinforce the time-honored principle that the authority and responsibility to raise children, direct their education, and instill in them the values that make a free society flourish, all reside with the child's parents, not the state.

Stop funding China's mandatory one-child policy

Valuing life from the beginning to end is central to a healthy culture. To uphold life we should:

Ensure that taxpayer dollars are never used for funding elective abortions, which are cases that don't involve rape or incest or where it is
necessary to save the life of the mother.

Defund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which is using U.S. taxpayer dollars to help enforce
China's mandatory one-child policy that compels, sometimes through force, millions of women to undergo abortions.

Reinstate the "Mexico City Policy,: which banned funding to organizations that promote and/or perform abortion overseas.
President Obama rescinded it shortly after his inauguration.

Protect the frail, the infirm, and the elderly from the state's arbitrary decision to terminate life.

Aging baby boomers need more independent & assisted living

Prepare for the aging of the baby boomers and their children so we can have active healthy aging with the best quality of life, the longest period of independent living, and the greatest prosperity. We will:

Develop a system in which those who
wish to stay economically active are encouraged and incentivized to do so because active people live longer and healthier, and are less of a burden on their fellow citizens;

Develop a system of independent living and assisted living that increases the
years in which people can be on their own and in most cases enables people to live their entire lives with freedom and dignity;

Develop a new model of quality long-term care in which both the care and the quality of life are compatible with a
twenty-first century American expectation of progress and innovation;

Use new technologies to turn disabilities into capabilities and change government regulations to help every American achieve the fullest possible ability to pursue happiness.

Marriage penalty costs low-income couples $4,600 per year

Americans, Gingrich believes, are not rule-dominated; they are incentive-dominated. Because of this, today's welfare incentives are backwards in a democratic, entrepreneurial society.

His favorite example: the tax code's marriage penalty, or that part
that affects lower-income citizens. Gingrich used the example of a man earning $11,000 a year who wanted to marry a woman earning the same amount. Because each taxpayer would be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a marriage ceremony and license
would cost the couple $4,000 a year.

"And then you have politicians," Gingrich says, "who say, 'Gee, we have too many births out of wedlock.' And your government wants to encourage you to get married by taking from you 25% of your income?"

Gingrich doesn't blame individuals for socially damaging behavior. His target is the system that fosters it. He wants instead a system that guides citizens to the proper choices.

1979: his marriage collapsed because "all humans sin"

When Newt went to Washington in 1979, [his first wife] Jackie went with him. But she didn't stay long. She had been diagnosed with uterine cancer the year before and was undergoing treatment. The couple tried counseling, but separated. Gingrich has said
they discussed a divorce for 11 years, but Jackie insisted on trying to save the marriage.

Over the years, a body of lore has been compiled about the marriage and what broke it: Gingrich is said to have told a friend that Jackie wasn't young enough or
pretty enough to be the wife of a president. He denies those comments.

When asked why his marriage ended, Gingrich never has denied that he broke his marriage vows: He confirmed in many forums, "I'm human, and all human beings sin."

The fires were
fueled in 1981, when just a few months after his divorce, Gingrich married Marianne Ginther. She was 15 years younger than Jackie. A body of stories developed that is still circulating today concerning alleged affairs with unnamed women.

Co-established bipartisan task force on the family

Today we had a bipartisan service. It talked about caring about our spouses, and our children, and our families. Because if we're not prepared to model that, beyond just having them here for one day,
if we're not prepared to care about our children, and we're not prepared to care about our families, then by what arrogance do we think we will transcend our behavior to care about others?
That's why with Congressman [Richard] Gephardt's help, we've established a bipartisan task force on the family.
We've established the principle that we're going to set schedules we stick to so families can count on times to be together, built around the school schedules, so that families can get to know each other and not just on C-Span.

Use tax code to reinforce families.

Gingrich wrote the Contract with America:

[As part of the Contract with America, within 100 days we pledge to bring to the House Floor the following bill]:

The Families Reinforcement Act:Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children’s education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society.